Messages - aslaw505

I do plan to stay in Central PA after graduation (at least for a while), so no, I don't regret choosing PSU. Also, choosing a lower-ranked school has made it easier for me to be at the top of my class, which opens up a number of career options. I don't know exactly what I want to do yet, but I haven't ruled out working for one of the biglaw firms with Harrisburg offices. A degree from PSU and my class rank should make getting a job at the Harrisburg offices of Buchannan Ingersoll or Saul Ewing well within my grasp. I'm not saying that one should avoid challenging oneself, but I'm a big believer that being at the top of your class at a lower-T2 school is ultimately better than being in the middle of your class at a high-T2/low-T1 school.

You'd probably get a scholarship from Penn State. They're actively trying to expand their geographic diversity, so being from TX would make you pretty desireable. Penn State's not really in the Philly area though - the Carlisle campus is a good 2 hours away (not sure how close you want to be, but it's definitely too far away to live with your BF in Philly if that's your plan).

Soooo...I got a 15k Scholarship offer from PSU. However, I have no desire for Central PA to be my endgame. I take it attending would be a mistake?

The majority of PSU-DSL students don't plan to stay in central PA after law school. Geographic connections do have a lot to do with getting a job, but they don't have to be law school connections. A lot of students go back to their home town/state after law school - is this what you're planning to do? If so, you'll likely be fine. If you're planning to work in a market with which you have no solid connections (i.e., you want to work in NYC but have never lived there), then you should probably try to go to a school in that market.

"The reality is that money cannot buy prestige. PSU can spend as much $ as they want. This does not change the fact that Dickinson and State College are far from large legal markets and are thus unlikely to attract top students."

This is flawed logic. Lots of top schools are in rural areas that are not large legal markets. Look at Washington and Lee - Lexington is more rural than Carlisle.

I go to Dickinson, so to avoid being called a troll, I'm not going to add much to this debate. (I also never looked at Pitt, so anything I could say would be pretty one-sided.) However, I think the article below makes a good point. This blurb is from the ABA Journal:

Potential law students who want a job at a top law firm shouldn’t blindly follow the rankings of U.S. News & World Report.

Students who attend a top-tier law school are likely to get interviews at any law firm they desire, according to a Wall Street Journal op-ed (sub. req.) written by lawyer and law professor Cameron Stracher. But grades and law review are more important than school rank at lower-tier schools, he says.

“The difference between the 55th-ranked law school and the 105th law school is of little significance in determining which students are more likely to get a good job,” he says.

“At both schools, unless a student is in the top 15 percent or 20 percent of his class, he has little chance of getting a high-paying job directly upon graduation. Students might be better served by going to a lower-ranked law school and doing better, rather than going to a middling law school and not doing as well.”The magazine’s rankings stress reputation over bar passage rates, which account for only 2 percent of a school’s rank.

Stracher concludes that law schools would better serve their constituencies if they released accurate information about numbers that matter to students—about bar passage rates, the kinds of jobs its graduates land, and average salaries after graduation.

From the point of view of a current law student, I would really stress this point - it's something that's far too often overlooked on this site.

If you have any specific questions about PSU, I'd be happy to try to answer them.